– First Canadian consumer allocation of Nissan LEAFs reserved within two hours –

Over the weekend, Nissan Canada opened the reservation process for the Nissan LEAF, with all Model Year 11 inventory reserved by Canadian consumers within two hours. At noon on Saturday, August 27th, those registered at www.nissan.ca/leaf and living within the vicinity of one of the 27 Nissan LEAF certified dealers, were invited to reserve a Nissan LEAF, bringing them one step closer to having the all-electric car plugged into their home garage.

“Response from Canadians since we first revealed the Nissan LEAF in 2009 has been astounding so we’re not surprised that our first inventory of 40 model year ’11 cars were snapped up so quickly,” said Judy Wheeler, Director of Marketing, Nissan Canada, Inc. “We expect this momentum to continue when we reopen reservations for model year ’12 cars in the coming month, so keep your eyes open for more and more Nissan LEAFs driving around Canadians cities soon.”

Delivery to the first wave of consumers will begin in September and continue into the fall. Nissan is carefully managing the purchase process from the first step, when consumers sign up on www.nissan.ca/leaf, until the customer drives the Nissan LEAF home and plugs it into a personal charging dock. Through Model Year 12, Nissan expects to release around 600 Nissan Leaf on the Canadian market through several waves of reservations into next year.

Reservations for Model Year 12 Nissan LEAFs will open in the coming months and be:

Open to those registered at www.nissan.ca/leaf and living within the vicinity of a Nissan LEAF certified dealer. All details, including exact timing for the opening of reservations, will be distributed via email in advance.
A $99 reservation fee (fully refundable) is required to secure a reservation.
After booking a home-charging assessment, customers will receive an invitation to order a Nissan LEAF.
Customers request a quote from a local Nissan LEAF-certified dealer and will continue through the sales process until they drive away in their own Nissan LEAF.

About the Nissan LEAF
One of the industry’s most-discussed vehicles for good reason, Nissan LEAF™ is the world’s first mass-marketed all-electric car made for the real-world driving needs of consumers and was recently named the 2011 World Car of the Year.

Nissan LEAF is a medium-size hatchback with ample cargo space and seating for five adults comfortably. With a range of 160 kilometres (EPA LA4 cycle) on one full charge, Nissan LEAF provides 90% of Canadians with the range needed for daily commutes. With a 240 volt home charging dock full charge is achieved in seven hours, and with a Level 3 Quick Charger, 80% charge can be achieved in just 26 minutes.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery, Nissan LEAF generates 107 horsepower, 207 lb-ft of torque providing a highly responsive, fun-to-drive experience. Because there’s no traditional engine, Nissan LEAF is ultra-quiet and for safety reasons a sound had to be added so pedestrians could hear the car coming. In April, Nissan LEAF was awarded a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The instrument panel provides the driver with regular updates on range and driving efficiency, and using a telematics system called CARWINGS, the driver can communicate with the car via a smart phone with the ability to turn on the air conditioning or heat remotely, and manage and monitor charging.

Link

New Energy and City of Roanoke, VA to demonstrate MotionPower System for generating electricity from moving cars at the Roanoke Civic Center

New Energy Technologies, Inc. (NET) and the City of Roanoke, Virginia, plan to debut jointly NET’s MotionPower-Express system, capable of generating electricity from moving vehicles. (Earlier post.) This first public demonstration of New Energy’s roadway technology will be sited at the Roanoke Civic Center, a high-traffic volume entertainment, convention, and cultural complex, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 22 October.

Once fully optimized and installed, the MotionPower devices—similar to rumblestrips—might be used to augment or replace conventional residential or commercial electrical supplies used to power roadway signs, street and building lights, emergency power storage systems and other electronics, appliances and devices used in homes and businesses.

The Roanoke demo is the first in a number of scheduled events for the MotionPower technologies, systems designed as roadway-based installations where vehicles are required to decelerate or stop. MotionPower assists vehicles in slowing down, and in the process of doing so, captures the slowing vehicle’s motion (kinetic) energy before it is otherwise lost as brake heat and friction.

According to NET, MotionPower-Express is suited for installation where vehicles are traveling faster than 15 mph and are slowing down before stopping, including: parking lots, border crossings, exit ramps, neighborhoods with traffic calming zones, rest areas, toll booths, and travel plazas.

As vehicles drive over the system, a series of mechanical treadles are depressed, converting some of the car’s excess rolling kinetic energy into sustainable electrical while helping to slow the vehicle down. The system uses novel mechanical and fluid-driven technologies that are the subject of 18 new patent filings, according to the company.

Link

MEVA will be holding it’s Annual General Meeting on the 24th of November 2011. We will be conducting a short election for any Executive Committee positions that will be empty, or for those positions that have more than one nomination.

The following positions will be vacated by their incumbants as of the AGM:

Secretary

Member-at-Large

Nominations are urgently needed for these positions; members may also volunteer. Nominations will also be accepted for any of the other Executive positions.